Iraqi Insurgents Displaying Ingenuity
Fri Nov 21, 6:42 PM ET
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Rockets launched from donkey carts. Explosives hidden
in the carcasses of roadkill. Land mines taken apart and converted for
attacks. Insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites) are borrowing tactics
used by Palestinians, Afghans and others to press their fight against
the U.S.-led occupation.
The U.S. military dismissed the tactics Friday as "militarily
insignificant," though it acknowledged an "inventive, ingenious"
adversary exploiting U.S. weaknesses.
In the latest sign of Iraqi ingenuity, guerrillas fired more than a
dozen rockets from wooden donkey carts Friday at the Oil Ministry and
two hotels used by international journalists and civilian defense
contractors.
One civilian contractor was wounded when the rockets exploded at the
Palestine Hotel and at the nearby Sheraton. There were no casualties
at the Oil Ministry, which was closed for the Muslim day of prayer.
Two more rocket launchers mounted on donkey carts were discovered in
the Waziriya neighborhood, which includes several embassies and
government offices. One donkey was carrying a propane canister wired
with explosives, U.S. officials said.
Donkey carts are common on the streets of Baghdad, Cairo and other
Middle Eastern cities and draw little attention. The cart used to fire
on the hotels was on a major thoroughfare less than two blocks from a
police station and about 200 yards from a U.S. Army guard post.
"They're trying to break our will. They're trying to seize the
headlines ... but they're militarily insignificant," Brig. Gen. Mark
Kimmitt, the U.S. military deputy director for operations, said of
Friday's attacks.
However, Kimmitt acknowledged the attacks point to "a very clever
enemy who knows that we don't have the best intelligence in the world"
and is cleverly exploiting "some vulnerabilities."
In London, Adam Sieminski, an oil analyst at Deutsche Bank, said the
attack on the Oil Ministry appeared designed "to prove that the
Americans can't guard everything and to make life difficult."
Although donkey carts may not register with most American soldiers as
lethal weapons, animals have been used in attacks by the Palestinians,
Lebanese and even in Colombia.
In September, a bomb strapped to a horse by the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia exploded in northeast Colombia, killing eight
people and wounding 20.
Iraqi insurgents have adopted other time-tested guerrilla techniques,
modifying them as necessary.
Soldiers from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which patrols the
Baghdad area, tell of a colleague who was about to remove the body of
a dog from a roadside when he noticed small wires poking from the
carcass. The dog's body was packed with explosives.
More often such roadside bombs — among the deadliest threats to U.S.
soldiers — have been fashioned from innocuous-looking containers
packed with explosives removed from artillery shells, land mines and
other weapons taken from Iraqi arms depots that have not yet been
properly secured. On Friday, the military reported the deaths of two
more American soldiers killed by roadside bombs.
Last month, insurgents unleashed a rocket barrage on the Al-Rasheed
Hotel, home to U.S. and coalition officials, from the back of a
two-wheeled trailer fitted with a 40-pod rocket launcher.
Even in Baghdad, cruising the streets with a rocket launcher would
attract attention, so the trailer was disguised to look like those
used by Iraqis to transport generators in a city where power supplies
are uneven.
The assailants parked the vehicle, unhitched the trailer and then
drove away while an electrical timer set off the rockets. Such timers
are often used in Pakistan and Afghanistan (news - web sites) to fire
on U.S. or Pakistani installations while the attackers make their
escape.
After the Al-Rasheed attack, Brig. Gen. Mark Dempsey, commander of the
1st Armored Division, described the makeshift launcher as "a science
project in a garage with a welder and a battery and a handful of
wires."
But it was effective. A U.S. lieutenant colonel was killed and 18
other people were wounded. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
was in the hotel but escaped injury.
As the Americans get sharper in spotting such bombs, the Iraqis get
more clever at disguising and rigging them. U.S. officers say some
roadside bombs, referred to by the military as Improvised Explosive
Devices, are rigged with secondary triggers. If the primary trigger is
defused, the secondary sets off the explosion.
U.S. officers have received reports that Iraqi children are offered
money to plant bombs, using magnets to affix them to the undersides of
vehicles. That technique appeared in Pakistan during the fighting in
nearby Afghanistan two years ago.
Another Iraqi trick is to fire a few grenades near U.S. troops to
provoke a response. The attackers then lead pursuing Americans into an
ambush — another tactic widely used by the Palestinians.
U.S. officials say some Iraqis have been coerced into parking cars
rigged with explosives near U.S. positions while insurgents hold their
relatives at gunpoint until the task is completed.
In other developments Friday:
_ The two soldiers reported killed in roadside bombings were a
paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division and another from the 4th
Infantry Division. Both died Thursday.
_ An explosion rumbled through Baghdad on Friday night, and flames
shot up near the Canal Hotel, former headquarters of the U.N.
operation in Iraq. Iraqi police said they had blown up a suspicious
car, and that nobody was injured.
"life is like a mushroom, they feed you ***** and keep you in the dark"
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: Donkeys against F-16 and 1000lb. bombs-Donkeys winning |
23 Nov 2003 09:32:47 AM |
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Funny how I don't see PETA crying over the donkeys who were severely burned.
Tony
"About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up, who will turn
their attention to the prophecies, in the midst of much clamor and opposition."
Sir Isaac Newton
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| User: "WH" |
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| Title: Re: Donkeys against F-16 and 1000lb. bombs-Donkeys winning |
23 Nov 2003 01:20:27 PM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20031123103247.12410.00000545@mb-m25.aol.com...
Funny how I don't see PETA crying over the donkeys who were severely
burned.
Aw Tony you have a heart afterall? Never heard you crying over the innocent
civilians killed by your fuckin' war machine in Iraq. Nor have I heard you
mention the ones that are being killed and maimed by the same war machine on
a daily basis now.
Oh yeah...they are Muslims, they are less worth than the poor old donkeys to
you you racist swine!
WH
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| User: "Ex." |
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| Title: Re: Donkeys against F-16 and 1000lb. bombs-Donkeys winning |
23 Nov 2003 02:15:59 PM |
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"WH" <bollogs@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bpr1cg$k7n$1@green.tninet.se...
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20031123103247.12410.00000545@mb-m25.aol.com...
Funny how I don't see PETA crying over the donkeys who were severely
burned.
Aw Tony you have a heart afterall? Never heard you crying over the
innocent
civilians killed by your fuckin' war machine in Iraq. Nor have I heard you
mention the ones that are being killed and maimed by the same war machine
on
a daily basis now.
Oh yeah...they are Muslims, they are less worth than the poor old donkeys
to
you you racist swine!
Tony's form of racism is never explicit but merely implied.
/ex
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: Donkeys against F-16 and 1000lb. bombs-Donkeys winning |
24 Nov 2003 02:55:45 AM |
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"Ex."
wrote:
Tony's form of racism is never explicit but >merely implied.
Yes, inside the tiny minds of you and Chris.
Tony
"About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up, who will turn
their attention to the prophecies, in the midst of much clamor and opposition."
Sir Isaac Newton
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Donkeys against F-16 and 1000lb. bombs-Donkeys winning |
23 Nov 2003 09:48:48 AM |
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On 23 Nov 2003 15:32:47 GMT, (TonyZ2001) wrote:
Funny how I don't see PETA crying over the donkeys who were severely burned.
Tony
They don't have time right now, they are too busy laughing at the joke
the Iraqis are making of you stupid Americans.
"life is like a mushroom, they feed you ***** and keep you in the dark"
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